Chapter 64: Dorothy

Grin met with the King. What Felts IV discussed with him, aside from the parts already repeated by Dolores, was mostly words of appreciation.

However, unlike Dolores who left after their conversation, Felts IV prepared to invite Grin to a certain place after they finished talking.

Grin didn’t ask many questions and simply nodded. But the more corners they turned following Felts IV, the older and gloomier the surrounding scenery became.

Deep down, Grin already had an idea of where they were going.

The reason he had gained Felts IV’s trust was due to the dream involving the Ancestral Land. It was impossible for him to have never visited the Ancestral Land during the years he served as the King of the Rand people.

However, the timing of Grin’s previous visit to the Ancestral Land had been poor; by then, the land had already fallen into decay.

Sure enough, they arrived at an extremely vast underground space. Several cenotaphs stood like statues surrounding a swamp at the very center. In the middle of the swamp was a lonely, gray stone island and a withered tree that was only half-standing, devoid of any buds or leaves.

The light in this underground space was provided by floating luminous objects. They were a glowing blue color, and a faint sound could be heard when passing by them.

Those sounds were like ‘the murmurs of living people,’ but if one listened closely, there was not a single shred of information hidden within them.

When Grin had come to the Ancestral Land in his previous life, these fluorescent lights were already gone. There had only been a few blurred silhouettes occasionally appearing over the cenotaphs.

“This is the Ancestral Land belonging to our Rand people. It was born from the blessings of the gods, nurtured by wonders, and has served as the tomb of our Rand Royal Family throughout history.”

“At the same time, it is the source of our Royal Family’s special power,” Felts IV said.

The Ancestral Land was the foundation of the Land Kingdom. What the Land Kingdom had relied on to gain independence from the Empire was the Ancestral Land and the legends that defined their people.

The Land Kingdom had once been a part of the Rhodes Empire. The name “Land” meant “Southern Stone” in the Rhodes language, because there were the Mountain of Miracles and the Great Mine in the south of Rhodes.

That mountain was the Holy Mountain that had been worshipped for generations in Rand legends, the one where the Golden Tree grew after being swallowed by the swamp.

The Rand people were originally locals from near the Great Mine who were later ruled by the Empire. It wasn’t until the Empire’s internal strife that the First King of Land led them to break away.

Both Felts IV and Dolores had green eyes, while native-born Rand people generally did not have this eye color; most of them had deep blue eyes.

Green was the color of miracles and hope in Land. In folklore, when the King of Land waded through the swamp to retrieve the sword and the tree bud, a branch touched his eyes, granting the King of Land green eyes.

Of course, the truth of this was not guaranteed, as there were many unofficial histories and various versions of the story circulating.

These legends did more than just grant power to others without a foundation, like the “One Who Bathed in Dragon Blood” title on Grin.

It possessed a tangible Ancestral Land that could serve as a medium to provide power and guidance to the Rand Royal Family.

Most of those buried in the Ancestral Land were members of the Rand Royal Family, including past kings and direct descendants, such as the princesses of various generations.

Members of the Rand Royal Family buried a part of their Soul in the Ancestral Land in advance to serve as a power that their descendants could use.

However, this power had nothing to do with Grin. In his past life, he only held the title of King of the Rand People but lacked the direct bloodline or the grafting of the legends.

By then, the Rand Ancestral Land had already decayed, and since Dolores had not become pregnant for several decades, Grin had never been grafted into the Rand legends.

To Grin, the Rand Ancestral Land was a treasure chest of dwindling riches that he could not open.

“Your Majesty, this seems to be the most important place in the Land Kingdom,” Grin spoke politely.

“Because someone else besides me wants to see you,” Felts IV said.

“I feel that you have a connection with our Land Kingdom. It is no secret that Rand’s Ancestral Land is declining day by day, and we have been looking for a way to sustain it.”

“On the branch you brought, I sensed the breath of ‘life.’ This is exactly what we have been searching for.”

“Grin,” Felts IV addressed him directly by name.

Grin looked up and saw Felts IV’s somewhat meaningful gaze. The King then continued, “Has anyone else ever said something similar to you, about believing in you?”

Grin opened his mouth, and for a moment, the figures of Integrer and Hagel flashed through his mind. He answered, “Yes.”

Felts IV laughed a few times, walked to his side, and patted his shoulder.

“When we first met, I thought you were just an ordinary powerhouse recommended to me through connections. After all, that fellow really likes taking money to get things done, and you were recommended by him.”

“But the more I look at you now, the more I feel that you might be the Outsider in the Prophecy of Land, the one who can lead the Land Kingdom away from its destined end.”

“Next, you can meet with her.”

Grin instinctively asked, “Who is she?”

“Dolores’s mother, Dorothy.”

Felts IV’s voice suddenly became very low. Then, without looking back, he turned and left, leaving only a message that he would be waiting at the exit.

His figure, which always remained upright, looked somewhat lonely and desolate as he departed.

Rhythmic human voices rang out softly, like someone singing a certain ballad. It seemed as if they were trying to lead someone somewhere like a signpost, yet the sound held a sense of illusory etherealness.

Grin followed the sound and found that it originated from the rock at the very center. After a moment of hesitation, he stepped onto the swamp.

Just as in his memory, when he stepped on it, it felt like walking on level ground, as if he were stepping on solid earth.

Because Grin did not possess the Rand Royal bloodline and was not a Rand person, he would not be swallowed by the swamp.

It was true in his past life, and it remained true in this one.

At this moment, Grin was no more than fifty meters away from the rock in the center of the swamp. When he was only five meters away from that unremarkable gray stone, both his vision and his perception suddenly sank.

The originally ethereal voice suddenly became clear and pleasant, as if a young girl in the prime of her youth were truly singing in his ear. Her soft voice was like a gentle breeze.

At this moment, what appeared before Grin’s eyes was no longer that gray stone and the half-withered tree. Instead, it had transformed into an island that stretched as far as the eye could see.

His heart gave a sudden leap. With a hasty glance, everything around him felt incredibly familiar. He seemed to have been here at some point in this current life.

In his previous life, even when Grin walked to the center of the swamp, he had never seen this scene.

“We meet again, sir.”

The singing stopped abruptly. Appearing before Grin was a girl with white hair and blue eyes, wearing a crown of yellow laurel decorated with leaves.

She was dressed in a plain brown dress, standing barefoot on the beach in front of Grin.

…A beach. At this moment, the swamp behind Grin had turned into an ocean with waves crashing against the shore.

“I was curious about what the Hero in her prophecy looked like, the benefactor who saved my husband’s life. But I didn’t expect that I would have… met you once before, sir.”

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dorothy Haley, and I am also Dolores’s mother,” the girl said with a smile.

In front of her was Grin, his face filled with surprise.